Abagnale’s skills went beyond impersonation. He mastered the personal banking system in that era. This was long before PayNow. Cheques were the major form of payment in those days.
Investors may remember Catch Me if You Can, the 2002 movie that stars Leonardo DiCaprio. The heart-throb plays Frank Abagnale, a con artist who swindled his victims of over US$2.5 million in the 1960s.
Abagnale was a teenager with immense charm and confidence. At 18 years old, he stood over 6 feet (182cm) tall and had the bearing of a much older person. He once travelled in the cockpit of a Pan Am airliner by posing as a pilot. The trick was that he had acquired the pilot’s uniform.
